Banger look at maintenance
Network agency does not rule out Russian delivery stop
06/24/2022, 08:26 am
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline will be scheduled for maintenance in mid-July. However, it is not certain whether Moscow will turn the tap on again afterwards. The Federal Network Agency is preparing for this in various scenarios. Savings are inevitable – and higher prices are inevitable.
The Federal Network Agency believes it is possible that Russia will completely stop supplying gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1. “We cannot rule it out,” said the head of the authority, Klaus Müllerin, on ARD. That is why the Federal Network Agency calculated various scenarios. “Most scenarios are not nice and mean either too little gas at the end of winter or – very difficult situation – in autumn or winter.”
Russia has already severely curtailed its gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the Baltic Sea. With a sinking feeling, the industry and the government are looking forward to the maintenance of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which begins on July 11. The process, which lasts several days, is actually an annual routine. But this time the question arises as to whether Russia will actually turn on the gas tap again after ten days. The day before, the federal government had declared the second of the three levels, the alarm level. The reason for this is that Russia has significantly reduced its gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the Baltic Sea. It is unclear whether and when the next stage has to be declared.
Müller once again called for energy saving. “Everyone in industry and privately can contribute to this – and yes, that includes the pullover, the shower head, turning the heating down a bit, all of that helps,” he said and warned against drastic price increases. “The gas price increases of last autumn are already being passed on,” said Müller. “That’s almost plus 30, plus 50, sometimes plus 80 percent. That’s the past from the fall.” Since then, the gas price has quadrupled as of last week and has now even increased sixfold.
With regard to prices, he spoke of huge leaps, which would not all be passed on to consumers one-to-one. “But doubling or tripling is definitely possible, depending on the building shell. And that’s why everyone is so urgent. That’s why Minister Habeck is, I’d say, so committed to saying, people are putting money aside and doing something towards autumn,” he said.